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Dr. Annette Shelby Appointed to Kennedy Center Advisory Board

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President Donald Trump has appointed Dr. Annette Shelby, wife of Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, to serve on the Kennedy Center Advisory Committee.

Committee members are meant to act as an ambassador to their home states on behalf of the Kennedy Center for the Arts and its national education and outreach programs.

Sen. Shelby said he was excited for his wife and remarked about her qualifications for the post.

“I am very proud of my wife, Annette, for her nomination today by President Trump to be a member of the Kennedy Center Advisory Committee,” said Senator Shelby.

“She spent her career as an academic, teaching at both the University of Alabama and Georgetown University for more than 30 years. Annette has been widely recognized for her distinguished career of teaching, research, and service. She has worked diligently to earn this honor.”

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is the premiere venue for various shows and performances to be held in Washington D.C. and is the official “National Cultural Center.” Prestigious annual events such as the the Kennedy Center Honors, the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, and the National Symphony Orchestra Season Opening Ball are held there as well.

Joining Dr. Shelby on the committee is Rene I. Augustine from Maryland, a special assistant and senior associate counsel to the president.

Serving on the advisory committee means that Dr. Shelby will advise and consult the center’s board of trustees about existing and prospective cultural events to be carried out by the Kennedy Center.

Though it is Sen. Shelby who regularly generates headlines for his work in politics in government, Dr. Shelby has a long and distinguished career of her own. She also has a history of supporting the arts, having served on the Board of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in speech from the University of Alabama in 1960 and 1962, respectively. She went on to earn her Ph.D. in speech from Louisiana State University in 1973.

Dr. Shelby was the first woman to become a tenured professor in Georgetown University’s McDonough School of business. In 1991, she was named Professor Emerita. She also has been a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh and the Helsinki School of Economics. She has been director of both the Georgetown graduate and undergraduate programs at Oxford University.

She has received the Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education, the Danforth Association Program Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Joseph F. LeMoine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence, and the University of Alabama’s Julia and Henry Tutweiler Award.

Shelby has held fundraising responsibilities for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Lombardi Cancer Center in Washington. She also has worked on behalf of the March of Dimes in Washington and been a member of the Honorary Advisory Committee for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the Honorary Advisory Board for the National Osteoporosis Foundation. She was a member of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Healthy Women 2000 Advisory Committee.

Additionally, she has been an active member of the Tuscaloosa County Mental Health Board, the University of Pittsburgh Global Studies Board of Advisors, the Stillman College Board of Trustees and the University of Alabama President’s Advisory Board.

Caroline Beck is a reporter based in Montgomery. You can follow her on Twitter @CarolineBeckADN and reach her at Caroline@aldailynews.com.